School. My son is Failing some subjects. Should I worry?

Honestly I'd say don't even worry about it. Middle/high school is useless. I did not learn 1 single useful thing there. I failed a bunch of classes
due to doing no homework whatsoever. I would sometimes even just write in nonsense answers on tests and turn them in one minute after getting them
because the whole place was a joke to me. I didn't even finish high school and it had no impact on my life whatsoever.
I got my GED and after a few years I started college. Now, when it actually matters, I'm getting all A's and B's without even trying and was
invited into an honor society that has included some very accomplished people. I can take my future in any direction I want. Nobody is going to care
about what I did or did not do in high school.

There are MANY applications for such formulas. My father, my brother, my uncle and my brother-in-law are all pipe fitters. Guess what? They use these
formulas DAILY.

Sorta sounds like you are trying to justify your child's laziness...dont get me wrong, there are many reasons why kids lose interest in school, and
school is certainly not a perfect science. But to shrug off things as important as simple geometry is not the way to go.

Sounds like dad doesn't understand these concepts, and sees no reason for anyone else to understand them. But I bet he can explain the everyday
importance of the knowledge he has collected while working. By pointing out that the information is "useless" to his son, he justifies his son's
refusal to learn the information. And he doesn't ever have to risk that his son will outshine his own knowledge base.

This thread has done so much in explaining where the US is right now, academically. They aren't all failing because they refuse to be
indoctrinated...this is one of myriad reasons.

It sounds like your mind is already made up, so why ask? Your son likely reflects your values, which apparently include a view that knowledge is
useless unless it helps you to get a paycheck. Your own writing reflects this as well, riddled as it is with spelling mistakes (not typos), poor
grammar and randomly capitalized words.

I'd certainly argue what knowledge he learns (knowledge = facts + understanding) defines what kinds of work can earn him a paycheck. Your call, do
you want him as limited as you are or do you want his possibilities broader?

Does he prefer to learn visualy, or to listen, or to do hands-on projects? Does he require a lot of motor movement (kinesthetics)? Determining how
he learns best is something his teacher needs to know. That way she can best target his learning style. If you google "multiple intelligence
theory" you will find several surveys that will help you determine the learning style.

Next, you are right that life rarely requires you to know about Genghis Khan and isosceles triangles. But memorizing these facts are only the most
rudimentary forms of education. The real meat of the matter, can he USE that information? In other words, the goal is to create critical thinking
skills.

Originally posted by pajoly
It sounds like your mind is already made up, so why ask? Your son likely reflects your values, which apparently include a view that knowledge is
useless unless it helps you to get a paycheck. Your own writing reflects this as well, riddled as it is with spelling mistakes (not typos), poor
grammar and randomly capitalized words.

I'd certainly argue what knowledge he learns (knowledge = facts + understanding) defines what kinds of work can earn him a paycheck. Your call, do
you want him as limited as you are or do you want his possibilities broader?

Are you in Australia? One thing that we do have here is a very good education system whether it is school, tafe, university or any other.. Even dole
bludgers are made to do short courses to improve their work prospects and meet the governments criteria. When we want to become qualified in a trade,
we must do trade school which pretty much goes through the same things you would learn at school. Maths is a big part of it along with the hands on
training.

If his son learns a trade, he will be qualified in 4 years at what he has chosen and can then start his own business if he chooses. The odds are most
students will end up in those middle class jobs anyway so why not get a head start on everyone else? by the time he is 20, he will be earning award
wage in his trade and also building confidence to build his own business also.

No,he does`n`t need to know any of that stuff to be a french fry maker at McDonalds or a thug working for the local crack dealer.

everything the schools teach isn`t meant to be vital info that you will need in everyday life.they teach many different things to broaden you`re
general knowledge and just maybe you will find something that sparks your interest.
maybe learning about Genghis khan will spark one students curiosity and they will go on to become an archeologist and discover the crashed alien
mothership that brought us here to earth millions of years ago.

is this post a joke? I often wonder if some of these posts are put up by shills or something to start useless conversations.

First off.. to assume that knowledge is useless is stupid!

If your son is bored in school, if he is failing, when understand WHY. Most schooling is designed to dumb down students. They no longer teach kids
HOW to think, but just give them random facts that are not placed in the context of anything else. If you or your child is confused then the school
has succeeded.

Schools genereally do not want you to ever find knowledge useful.

They teach you some stuff, make you take a test and then plug you all into a "job" that you may stay in anywhere for 1 -10 years (if that).

But the true skills of living and existing on this planet requires much more profound knowledge.

I would suggest starting going back to THE TRIVIUM. (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) and then onto the QUADRIVIUM (Arithmatic, Astronomy, music and
geometry)

These 7 subjects made up the Classical Liberal education.

There is some wonderful resources out there. Knowledge should be fun. Your child should have a DESIRE to want to understand the world around them
and continue to learn. If you think that all one should know is how to get a job and pass a job interview wow.. then you are a sheep and I feel for
your child.

I didn't do well in school... they said I would never succeed (and I went to private schools) yet I am currently continuing to learn and teach myself
and reteach myself various subjects.

Don't be so sensible, don't you know that school is designed to condition kids. We must learn to idolize powerful people that lived. We must study
the angles of triangles so we don't understand that there is more to shapes than numbers. We must steer our kids from reason and teach them what the
government thinks is appropriate. The job of school is to tame the spirit so we don't challenge the way it is. Maybe your broken now that you are
more aware. Shame on you for discovering what even many teachers do not know. You need to go out to a bar and get drunk so the hangover will keep
you from thinking for a week or get a prescription for prozac to dumb you down..

Given what you are training your son to be, I am absolutely shocked that you don't feel geometry is at all helpful. Honestly, if you were pouring
concrete for my house, how would you accomplish it without ruining the rest of the yard?

Let's see... I've got a corner I need filled in. Three feet on one side, and four feet on the other. How long is the runner for the third side so
you don't destroy my wife's flower garden?

According to what you have stated, this is useless knowledge... and you are supposed to be a professional. Why would I trust you to do the job that
you stated you don't know how to do?

I'm a builder. I used the three four five right triangle all the time. Hardly ever used anything else I learned in geometry though, I could have
been taught about the 3-4-5 right triangle the day I started working. Ninety percent of what I learned in highschool I never used except when
watching jeopardy and other game shows or playing trivia. I have learned many professions. Even my superior math skills were useless when the
calculator came out.

Three feet times four feet is 12 feet times one foot deep is 12 cubic feet. This size is capable of supporting a masonary chimney. if you are going
to mix it yourself it will take approximately twenty four bags of 60 lb readymix at about three fifty a bag plus tax. Ready mix is usually four bag
mix. A footing should have rerod in it so a stick of rerod or any long metal should also be acquired. If you are going to figure ordering it ready
mixed from the plant it will be about a half of a yard or about fifty bucks plus a small load delivery charge of about fifty bucks plus tax. Did you
get zoning approval for this project? not all things need a permit but most things need zoning approval. That's another twenty bucks. anything else
you need to know?

Not much of this I learned in school except basic math, I learned it from professionals I worked with.

That's always a hard one.
Do we need calculus if we are going to be a car mechanic?
Maybe if you're going to be a physicist.

We will never know what the future will bring. But knowing stuff is always a good thing.

Tell him that the more he knows the better he can make future decisions about his life.
Tell him that in the future he might really like being an engineer.
And that he won't know unless he tries to learn this stuff in school.
And that maybe in an emergency his knowledge might save his life or the life of some other person.

Originally posted by Pedro4077
My son will be 15 soon. I have been teaching him to drive, fence, lay concrete, weld ect. He will most likely never be out of work. He has a head
start on the others who obsess about perfect grades.

But that's all he'll ever do...labor work, which is fine if that's all he wants. His back and knees will be shot by the time he's 45. A godd
brane neverr gos outta stile.

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